Brookdale Lodge

Brookdale Lodge sign

Brookdale Lodge

Original Brookdale Lodge

The Brookrooom

Nestled deep in the Santa Cruz
Mountains lies the historic Brookdale lodge. Surrounded by giant
redwoods, Brookdale Lodge was originally opened in 1870 as the
headquarters of the Grover Lumber Mill. The mill was purchased
by H.J. Logan of Loganberry fame in 1900 and was converted into
campgrounds and a hotel. Since then the lodge has passed through
numerous hands.

Between 1922 and 1945 the lodge was operated by
Dr. F. K. Camp, a Seventh-day Adventist physician and a strict
prohibitionist. It was Camp that built the magnificent Brookroom, a dining room that encloses a natural stream flowing
down its center. This was the lodge's heyday. The Brookdale was
the second most popular resort in California and played host to
Hollywood stars, prominent families, foreign diplomats, and even a
U.S.
President. Famous persons passing through Brookdale Lodge
included: Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Tyrone Power, Joan Crawford,
Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr, and President Herbert Hoover. The
lodge was also famous for its first rate entertainment,
attracting the best big band and swing groups of the era. There
are at least three swing era songs written about the Brookdale
including, My Brookdale Hideaway, A Place known as
Brookdale, and Beautiful Brookdale Lodge.

Shortly before his death, Dr.
Camp sold the property in 1945 to A. T. Cook and W. G. Smith. In
1951 it was again sold to a consortium of San Francisco
businessmen and then to Barney Marrow, who also owned the
Brookdale Inn across the highway.

It was in the '40's and '50's that the lodge entered its most intriguing period,
becoming a home for gangsters and other shady characters. Secret
passageways and hidden rooms were installed throughout the lodge
and rumors of buried bodies under the floor began to circulate.
Also during this time, six year old Sarah Logan, the niece of the lodge owner, drowned in the dining room creek. It's her ghost that is most
often seen at the Brookdale. But Sarah wasn't the only watery
death at the lodge. In 1972, a 13 year old girl drowned in the
kidney shaped pool above the mermaid room forcing its closure.

The Manifestations

Another view of the Brookroom

Over
the years there have been many sightings of little Sarah Logan. She is often
seen in a white and blue Sunday dress walking through the lobby
or near the fireplace between the lounge and Brookroom. She has
also been seen playing on the balcony of the Brookroom, an area
off limits to visitors and guests, and sitting beside the fire
in the Fireside Room.

Some
have even been approached by the crying Sarah asking if they
could help her find her mother. As they turn to look for the
little girl's mother, Sarah vanishes. The sightings aren't
limited to visitors. The owners of Brookdale Lodge have also
seen Sarah running about the lodges' lobby. From their
description, Sarah was, "very clear, like a whole
person" and wore a 1940's style formal dress. She ran
silently across the lobby for about five seconds before disappearing
through the office window. The owners must have been quite
"spooked" because soon after the they hired several
priests and psychics to try and rid the lodge of its spirits.

The
niece isn't the only paranormal activity visitors to the lodge
have experienced. In the Mermaid Room visitors have experienced
hearing voices, the clinking of glasses, and soft music when the room was empty.
The jukebox located here has been known to turn itself on and
off when nobody is near it.

The stream running through the Brookroom

When the Brookroom is empty you can sometimes
hear glasses and plates clinking and people talking as if dozens
of ghostly diners are having a meal. A ghostly woman, has been
seen walking over the brook as if supported by a bridge removed
long ago. Psychics speculate that she is the mother of Sarah
Logan returned to find her daughter. The smell of gardenias
often permeates the room at night although there are no
gardenias in the Brookroom or the lodge. Could this be the
perfume of Sarah's mother?

Big band music has been heard
playing faintly in the Fireside Room and in the Pool Room.
People have also reported cold spots, presences, and even being
touched by unseen forces in the Pool Room.

Late at
night doors slam and footsteps are often heard in empty rooms.
They are
particularly loud from the second floor conference room. Many
have reported strange smells and having a sense that the room is
full of people when it is empty. Psychics have identified one of
the conference room spirits as a man by the name of George. He
is a lumberjack and has also been encountered behind the lodge
at a place where in the lodge's early years they chopped wood
for its many fireplaces.

In the 1970's a wing of motel
rooms was built over the spot where once stood the lodge's
camping cabins. Room 46 of the motel wing is reported to be very
haunted. A woman who worked at the lodge in exchange for lodging
has reported that at night objects and shapes would fly across
the room. Ghostly ballroom dancers would swirl around leering at
her as they floated by. Ghosts would materialize around her bed,
their faces sometimes vague and sometimes very very clear. One
of the ghosts was a little boy, perhaps 12 or 13 years old,
another was a man with his eye hanging loose on his cheek, and
still another was a man with a knife wound across his face. Not
all of her experiences in room 46 were visual. She also reports
that once she felt somebody sit on the edge of her bed and
stroke her arm.

The current owners have been told by
psychics that, in all, there are 49 spirits in residence at the
Brookdale. Enough to make it more than worth a visit.

Another view of the Brookroom

In addition to it's paranormal interest, the Brookdale Lodge is
centrally located to all the attractions and activities of the
Santa Cruz mountains and a nice place to stay. If you are just
driving through I recommend you stop for their very nice Sunday champagne brunch in the
Brookroom. (9:30 - 2 PM)

Anytime you visit I think you'll
be pleasantly surprised by the charm, beauty, history, and the
wonderful "live"
entertainment provided by the lodge. To see exactly what I mean
you'll just have to visit for yourself.

For More Information (new)

*The Brookdale Lodge is now the Brookdale Inn & Spa and is
under new management since the time this article was written.